Chapter 254: Death Warriors Break the Ban

Xu Yuan took the document out of the Zhancheng Office but didn't head straight for Zhoujiaji.

The timing of this was too convenient; even a blind man could see it was meant to lure him out of Zhancheng.

Xu Yuan shoved the document into his chest and said, "Go back."

Qin Ze couldn't help asking, "My lord, shouldn't we investigate Zhoujiaji?"

"Trap," Xu Yuan said.

Yu Yunhang thought for a moment and suggested, "My lord must not go—if you go, you'll fall right into Fu Chongjiu's hidden weight. But if you ignore it entirely, Shanhe Office may cause more trouble."

And the Master of Discipline might also…"

Yu Yunhang stopped mid-sentence, only staring at Qin Ze.

Qin Ze slapped his chest without hesitation: "I, Old Qin, will go with my men."

Xu Yuan frowned—Qin Ze was straightforward, not the right choice.

Even sending someone to pretend to investigate carried risk.

If Fu Chongjiu couldn't lure you, he might kill your men in rage.

Best to pick someone cautious.

But Qin Ze had already bowed and said, "My lord, trust me, Old Qin. Hehe, I'm not stupid—I'll just circle Zhoujiaji, fulfill the order, then come right back."

Fu Chongjiu's so cunning, he probably won't be satisfied with just catching one little fish—he'll hold back."

Xu Yuan couldn't help viewing him differently—Old Qin had a point.

And Old Qin, eager for merit, added, "My lord, give me the document."

"Fine," Xu Yuan handed it over. "Go fast, come back fast—if anything's wrong, run immediately!"

"Hehehe, I'm scared of dying, my lord, rest easy."

Qin Ze led his squad toward the northern city.

Zhoujiaji was north; if Qin Ze moved fast, he could still return today.

Xu Yuan's group continued back to the Nancheng patrol station. As they walked down a main street, a window on the second floor of a tavern to their left suddenly opened, and someone shouted, "Xu My Lord!"

Everyone instinctively turned—and saw a stranger's face.

The man grinned strangely; beside him, another window exploded with fire—CRASH!

Xu Yuan shot off his horse like lightning.

Almost the instant he leapt clear, a heavy solid shot struck his horse.

After piercing through the horse's body, the shot still had force—it scraped the ground, leaving a clear groove, then bounced up and slammed into the wall across the street.

WHOOSH—it smashed a huge hole in the wall!

Only then did Xu Yuan land, knocking over a roadside stall.

Oranges and pomegranates rolled everywhere.

Xu Yuan knew that sound too well.

After all, Xu My Lord often used cannons to blast others.

The whole street erupted—merchants and passersby screamed and scattered in panic.

People crushed into each other, trampled each other.

Some fled blindly; others dove into shops on either side.

A little girl stood alone on the roadside, separated from her family in the chaos, wailing pitifully.

Fu Jingyu and the others snapped to attention, barking, "Assassin!"

"Protect my lord!"

That was the standard line of the court's useless officials' underlings.

Xu Yuan looked up—the window revealed a cannon barrel.

It was the imperial-issue Zi-Mu Iron Cannon!

The men inside were already reloading—this small cannon reloaded quickly.

Xu Yuan snorted. After the Sixth Flow, his mindset had changed.

Now there was no panic—only the calm of a strong one who controlled everything.

From the window came a voice: "Switch to explosive shells—blow him to pieces!"

The street was full of civilians—one explosive shell would destroy countless innocent families.

But as soon as the order was shouted, a tiny sword—like a curious little beast—"climbed" up from beneath the window, peered inside.

The man reloading, along with the Zi-Mu Iron Cannon, was cleanly sliced in half—SWISH!

Below on the street, Xu Yuan had gently picked up the little girl.

The girl sobbed uncontrollably, tears falling like broken beads.

In the chaos, a man selling candied hawthorns dropped his straw skewer—still half-full—on the roadside.

Xu My Lord picked out a clean one, handed it to the girl: "There, there, don't cry, Uncle treats you to candied hawthorns."

The girl took it, hiccuped twice, and truly stopped crying.

The man standing by the window, seeing the sword pill effortlessly slice through both cannon and companion, turned and fled in terror.

A rope slithered up like a venomous snake—SWISH—it wrapped around his ankle.

WHOOSH—

The rope yanked hard—he shattered the window and hung suspended outside the street.

Fu Jingyu had already led his men into the tavern, rushing up to the second floor, where they met a Wu Xiu at the staircase—CLASH! CLASH!

The Wu Xiu fell back step by step; Fu Jingyu's group surged up the stairs rapidly.

The third man shouted without looking back: "Retreat!"

But no one in the private room behind him responded.

He whipped his head around to look; on the ground remained only two halves of an iron cannon and two halves of a corpse!

A third companion was dangling in mid-air, waving his hands wildly and screaming in terror.

The third man's spirit was utterly shaken. Fu Jingyu had already seized the opportunity; holding a lamp, he blew sharply at him, and a torrent of flame engulfed him.

When he came to his senses, he discovered he hadn't been burned a single bit, but something within the flames had bound his entire body with chains!

Xu Yuan calculated in his heart: there are three people now.

Fu Chongjiu brought four men; adding himself, that means at least two more are lying in ambush!

"Wang Ming" opened.

Xu Yuan suddenly turned around, still holding the little girl in his arms.

The little girl cautiously licked the candied hawthorn, reluctant to eat too much.

Inside a shop across the street, a spirit cultivator breathed in huge gasps, extremely tense.

Though they were death soldiers, not every death soldier was fearless of death.

He had to act, but today the "Summoning of Souls" was forbidden; if he acted, he would surely die!

At the instant Xu Yuan turned, the spirit cultivator finally gritted his teeth hard, rushed out from behind the hiding counter, pressed one nostril shut, and sprayed violently outward.

Hiss—

A gust of yin wind sprayed out from the nostril.

Three yin soldiers gradually took shape within the yin wind.

Before they could even touch the ground, some power from the void furiously injected itself into their bodies.

"Aaaah—"

The three yin soldiers let out a long, agonized howl to the sky.

Their bodies rapidly swelled and mutated.

The yin soldiers, originally about the size of ordinary humans, instantly grew to three zhang tall.

Their entire bodies were covered in eerie spikes.

A pair of eyes turned into two black holes dripping blood outward.

One of them turned and lunged at the spirit cultivator.

The speed was so great the spirit cultivator couldn't react in time; with a crack, the upper half of the spirit cultivator's body was bitten off.

Pfft—

Fresh blood sprayed upward.

The five or six people hiding in this shop screamed in terror.

The fierce ghost took another bite, devouring the remaining half of the spirit cultivator entirely.

Then it whipped its head around, staring fixedly at those people.

The other two lunged at Xu Yuan together, their figures flashing constantly, making their trajectory impossible to track.

(End of this chapter)